Archive for the 'Labor Issues' Tag Under 'Ducks' Category

Nearly a week after a new labor deal was agreed upon, NHL players overwhelmingly ratified the collective bargaining agreement after voting ended early Saturday morning.

ESPN.com's Pierre LeBrun reported that 89 percent of players voted (679 of 763) and that all but 12 agreed to the terms of the deal that last 10 years, though the league and the NHL Players' Association can decide to opt out of it after eight.

Owners unanimously ratified the labor deal on Wednesday at the NHL's Board of Governors meeting.

The NHL has yet to release the new schedule and training camps will not officially open until a Memorandum of Understanding is signed by the league and union. Lawyers representing both sides have been working all Saturday to hammer out the final details.

If the deal is then finalized, camps are expected to open on Sunday. The Ducks will release full details of their camp sessions as well as their schedule and ticket information once they get the approval from the league.

NHL commissioner Gary Bettman, in a rare display of remorse and contrition, apologized on Wednesday for the lengthy lockout that delayed the start of the regular season as he announced that owners unanimously ratified the new labor agreement.

Bettman made the announcement at a news conference in New York after representatives from all 30 teams at the NHL's Board of Governors meeting approved the 10-year deal, which was tentatively reached between the league and the players' union early Sunday morning.

Ratification from the NHL Players' Association won't come until Saturday after the 700-plus members of the union vote on it. Training camps across the league are expected to open Sunday once the new agreement becomes official.

The focus is turning toward a 48-game season that is expected to start Jan. 19, though Bettman said the schedule won't be released until the NHLPA signs off on the deal.

But the NHL's top executive, who has now presided over three prolonged work stoppages, appealed to fans angered and alienated over another labor fight by saying, “I'm sorry.”

The National Hockey League is set to begin its lockout-shortened season of 48 games on Jan. 19, league deputy commissioner Bill Daly told the Register in an e-mail on Tuesday.

Daly also indicated that the NHL schedule isn't expected to be released "until the end of the week or the weekend." It figures that teams could be made aware of home and away dates internally for planning purposes before then.

The Ducks are not yet aware of their first opponent but they expect to open next weekend on the road as Honda Center is booked for a DreamWorks stage show. It is believed that they will be among 26 of the 30 teams that will start play on Jan. 19.

TSN's Bob McKenzie reported on Twitter that the schedule model appears to have each team play four games each against two teams within their division, five each against the other two divisional teams and three games each against the remaining teams within their conference.

Daly also indicated that training camps across the league are expected to open by Sunday. The Ducks are still working on camp details and it is unclear if they will begin with medicals on Saturday or Sunday and then skate on the same day or hit the ice the following day.

Like many other players at various locales, Dan Winnik got the word early Sunday morning. Very early.

"I heard from Shane Doan at 5:40 in the morning and he said, 'We've reached a tentative agreement,'" the Ducks' winger said recently from his Toronto home. "I got another text message about 10 minutes afterward from someone else.

"Excited. Guys are excited to get back. I know some guys are leaving their cities already to go. I think it's just the general feeling of excitement that were going to play hockey. Who knows? Maybe as soon as a week, which is kind of scary in a sense."

All that is needed for the NHL to resume its business on the ice is for owners and players to ratify the tentative labor agreement hashed out between the league and the players' union. Training camps are due to open as early as Saturday and it is possible that a 48-game season will begin on Jan. 19.

Announcing the deal was the easy part, as NHL commissioner Gary Bettman and NHLPA executive director Donald Fehr did in a crack of dawn press conference in New York. The hard part was the months of stops and starts in contentious discussions, continuous posturing by both sides and, in the end, some hard-scrabble bargaining and negotiating.

ANAHEIM -- Dustin Penner in a Ducks jersey skating with Ryan Getzlaf and Corey Perry? Scott Niedermayer on the ice for practice? Is this 2007?

It sure seemed like a mini-reunion of sorts at Anaheim Ice on Monday as OCRegister.com reporter Tanya Lyon was at a player-organized workout to talk to Ducks and Kings players about the end of the lockout.

Penner, who now has two Stanley Cups to his name, made it clear that his appearance in a Ducks sweater was only temporary. But Ducks Blog couldn't resist.

The biggest difference between the NHL lockouts of 2004-05 and 2012-13 naturally is that one entire season was canceled while one truncated one will still be played.

But another key difference is that many present social media forums such as Twitter were not around eight years ago. Facebook only began in early 2004. The information age has obviously advanced beyond what many of us couldn't imagine back then.

Now we often communicate with each other -- for better or worse -- through these forums and we can share our opinions and get instant reactions on literally any thought with people all over the world.

Since October, during the NHL lockout, local professional hockey players have been staying in shape by practicing at the Anaheim Ice. (BRUCE CHAMBERS, THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER)

It took a 113-day lockout that angered and alienated many hockey fans along the way but the NHL will be back on the ice in January after owners and players early Sunday morning tentatively agreed on a new 10-year collective bargaining agreement.

Ducks players like franchise icon Teemu Selanne reacted very positively to the news of an expected labor deal. Selanne said he had a good feeling on Saturday about how the talks between the NHL and the players' union were progressing and ultimately lasted more than 16 hours.

Asked about his prediction that the lockout would end on Monday, Selanne joked, "I meant Monday in Finland."

"Well, obviously we knew that it was going to be close," he said. "We almost had a feeling that it's going to end. That's why all the players started coming to their own citites and stuff, getting ready [for a season].

Is it time for hockey fans to nominate federal mediator Scot Beckenbaugh for sainthood?

It might be a bit rash to canonize the Illinois native but Beckenbaugh has at least accomplished the small miracle of getting the two sides in the NHL's ongoing labor battle back to the bargaining table and on a path toward salvaging a piece of what was supposed to be the 2012-13 regular season.

NHL commissioner Gary Bettman and deputy commissioner Bill Daly resumed negotiations in person with top officials of the players' union on Saturday in New York City after Beckenbaugh was able to get the parties back on track following 12 hours of meetings with each group on Friday and more sessions early Saturday morning.

Daly, in an e-mail to the Register, wouldn't delve into specifics in terms of the amount of progress occurring in the latest round of discussions but acknowledged Beckenbaugh's impact in getting everyone back in the same room.

"Obviously Scot has been helpful to the process and in helping construct a framework where progress can be made," Daly said. "Parties are still working hard. That has to be a positive."

ANAHEIM – Progress has stalled in the struggle to end the NHL lockout as talks between the league and the players' union have grounded to a halt but that hasn't stopped many players from preparing for an end game to the labor battle.

The deadline of Jan. 11 set by league commissioner Gary Bettman to have a new collective bargaining agreement in place in order to have a 48-game season eight days later has encouraged a number of players to trickle into their NHL cities from other locales.

A larger turnout of NHL players at Anaheim Ice than what has shown up for the last few weeks and months reflected such on Friday as they anticipate whether to get ready for a season to be played – or one that is canceled.

“We know the timelines,” said Brad Staubitz, who signed with the Ducks on the first day of free agency in July. “It's been publicized. We're getting ready. Getting excited.

There has been no easy way for NHL owners and players to settle its labor dispute and end the 109-day lockout and it appears that the struggle to reach a new labor agreement will continue even as a deadline edges closer to salvage a shortened season.

Negotiating teams for the league and the players' association, headed by NHL commissioner Gary Bettman and NHLPA executive director Donald Fehr, met well into Wednesday night at the league's offices in Manhattan but did not made any significant progress as the possibility of a second canceled season in eight years continues to loom over the proceedings.

The threat of filing a disclaimer of interest was at the union's disposal to dissolve itself and reclassify as a trade association, potentially clearing the way for locked-out players to file lawsuits against the NHL. But the NHLPA allowed a 9 p.m. Pacific time deadline to pass without executing its legal maneuver, preferring to focus on closing the divide within the negotiations.

Some progress was made after more than four hours of formal talks.

"The parties move closer together on some issues," Fehr said. "There is still a ways to go if an agreement can be reached. We'll consider where we are in the morning and we'll figure out what to do next."